Promoting Business Leadership on Climate change in India
Industry-led, Voluntary System to Measure and Report GHG Emissions
Context
Over the last few years, with the release of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, the Planning Commission report ‘Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth,’ and the energy efficiency trading scheme, the discourse regarding the role and involvement of Indian industry in achieving the country’s energy and carbon intensity goals has considerably matured. The India GHG Program thereby acts as a ‘center of excellence’ on GHG Accounting in the country, by developing and promoting a standardized approach for accounting of emissions, by supporting companies in preparing credible, verifiable inventories and by developing a knowledge base within the country on corporate emissions measurement and management. The following are indicative and broader terms of reference for the program. Additional details can be requested from the India GHG Program Secretariat.
Indicative Program Offerings
- Identification of the background and need to carry out GHG Inventorisation in building up a business case for the same, and provide a high level support, in the development and formulation of the Organizational GHG Strategy
- Support in GHG Inventorisation
- Development / Customization of the company specific GHG Accounting tool, based on the GHG protocol. This excel based tool would be a blank template developed specifically considering the specific company’s operations and needs, wherein the operational personnel can use this, input their specific data and arrive at their own final inventories
- Provision of specific technical insights in terms of use of emission factors, calorific values, computation models & values, which data to be collected etc. (we would not collect the data or do the inventory ourselves). This would include access to / and availability of helpdesk kind of services to address specific queries of member companies within a stipulated time period
- Provision of sectoral tools and guidelines as and when available under the program. These sectoral tools would be co-developed, pilot and road tested with founding member companies from their sector, with the expertise of WRI, TERI and CII.
- Broader, macro-level review of existing inventories in terms of gaps/oversights in computations so arrived at.
- This would involve Q&A on the data sets used, computation model followed, and the reliability of data.
- This would involve review of the existing inventory computation approached used and its consistency with the GHG Protocol and/or other relevant standards.
- It is very clear that we would not be verifying or auditing the data, or checking the calibration certificates, whether or not all sources have been identified etc.
- Support in Identifying or Reviewing Emission Reduction Opportunities
- This would involve Q&A with the operational/functional heads primarily to evaluate the possible portfolio of emission reduction opportunities that are being planned or conceived by the specific organization to prioritize and recommend based on our experience
- Support in feeding into alternate workstreams of WRI, TERI and CII wherever possible and applicable for e.g. Green Power Market Development Group etc.
- Support in the development/advancement/update of organizational overall carbon management strategy
- Includes advise on setting up of / reviewing existing voluntary emission and energy intensity reduction goals, based on our understanding of similar initiatives planned across peers, other regions, partner and stakeholder organizations like CDP, WBCSD etc.
- Advice, recommendations and suggested access to reporting platforms like GRI, CDP, The Climate Registry, Carbon Trust etc. – to meet the specific reporting needs/eventual benefits. This would include recommendations on whether reporting is necessary at this stage, which would be the best platform to connect with, how does this fare with the ongoing national goals and initiatives etc.
- Advice on boarder management, functional and operational issues – like suggesting a portfolio approach for further investments into emission reduction activities, which ones to choose and pick with the rationalized approach blending high return an low payback period projects.
- Advice on indicative benchmarking and sectoral performance data – as per the specific knowledge and inputs contained within WRI, TERI and CII.
- Going beyond Neutrality
- Working towards monetizing or quantifying the current position of leading companies aka. Puma ESG and Natural Resources Capitalization Balance Sheet. This would involve specific advice and sharing of tools/methods on potentially quantifying the impact and benefits of carbon neutrality or being carbon positive.
- Training & Development
- Access to training and development, regional capacity building workshops for two members of each organization
- Access to online and web training modules whenever available and applicable.
- One high level management awareness workshop specifically conducted by India GHG Program Experts for senior executives of the company. This would be a two hour session at the company premises, with travel support from the member organization
- One functional/operational level day long workshop – wherein the India GHG program experts would provide broader training, overview of the tools, issues and challenges on inventorisation etc. again at the company premises, facilities or manufacturing locations with travel support from the member organization.
Terms of Reference
It is expected for the program signatories to:
A. Commitment to set-up Organizational Processes
- Establish broader internal set-up (incase not already present) which includes key nominees/coordinating personal etc. forming an interdepartmental group to lead the GHG Accounting initiative within the organization
- Empower this interdepartmental group to access, support and influence internal management information systems, enterprise solutions and data collection/management and reporting procedures – to incorporate salient GHG emissions/abatement related features and access critical data
- Implement the accounting steps and quantification methodologies prescribed by the India GHG program
B. Commitments on Training and Capacity Building
- Outline specific time and resource – for a key personal of the interdepartmental group to undertake specific GHG Accounting and Management related training under the aegis of the program. Accordingly, nominate the said person for the certified practitioner status.
C. Support Disclosure, Outreach & Communication
- Develop an annual report that highlights experiences/learning’s during the preparation of GHG inventories, broader GHG indicators/parameters as prescribed by the program, details of abatement activities undertaken if any, broader organizational strategy on how GHG management has been integrated into the overall organizational business plan, as well as the future steps planned. (Optional if any of the information is to be made public or private)
- Share formal and informal feedback on the program, including learning’s expected, the insights gained, program’s contribution to the overall organizations capacity to measure and manage GHG emissions
- Assist in development of case studies, highlighting some of the specific experiences/initiatives to be shared with the peer group (these cases/initiatives to be recognized as the best practices promoted in the sector with due recognition to the participating organization)
D. Support Engagement in Policy Dialogues
- Engage with the program secretariat in policy dialogues through participation of senior company representatives